


Power Outage

by bunnysworld



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Community: merlin_writers, Drabble, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 14:30:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4749857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur gives Merlin a tour of his brand new electronically equipped house and the tour doesn't end as he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Power Outage

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my Tropes Bingo Card: locked in and forced proximity
> 
> Not beta'd, sorry.

“And this,” Arthur pointed excitedly, “is the latest in dieting technology.“

“It’s a fridge.” Merlin commented drily.

“It is!” Arthur nodded. “It automatically notices what you took out and what needs to be refilled, makes a list and sends it to the store. Then the goods will be delivered.”

Merlin blinked. “And they put themselves into the fridge, too?”

Taking a deep breath, Arthur sighed. “No, Merlin, that doesn’t work yet.”

“Yet.”

“Yet.” Arthur sighed. “Since my kitchen doesn’t really seem to impress you, let me show you my panic room.” He walked out of the kitchen, assuming that Merlin would follow.

Merlin had just gone over to Arthur’s new house for a beer and a movie. Now he had to look at everything and the more gadgets Arthur presented, the more restless he got. He would never feel comfortable in a house that monitored everything you did. How could a bloke take a nice long wanking session knowing that there were cameras and whatnots? How long before something in this house measured your heartrate and blood pressure? And a moment before you came, health services would stand on your doormat, trying to check on you? Merlin shuddered. He had nothing against a good sci-fi movie, but the sci-fi in this house was a bit too real already.

“See,” Arthur rambled on, “here I go if someone attacks the house.”

Merlin crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked unimpressed. “Arthur, when did anyone ever attack you in your own home?”

“I’m the CEO of Pendragon Industries, things like that could happen.”

“Are evil sorcerers out there to get you again?” Merlin took another deep breath. Sometimes Arthur’s paranoia got just a bit too much.

“No, that was stupid, I know now. But there are enough odd people in the world who might get funny ideas and if one of them gets close enough, I just get in here and lock the room from the inside. Come on, I’ll show you.”

Obediently, Merlin stepped into the small room that was only equipped with a small cot and a panel on the wall. A strange feeling came over him when the door closed behind them. 

“See, perfectly safe now.”

As Arthur rambled on about the specific features and what would happen if the worst happened, Merlin tried to look not too bored.

The lights flickered.

“And this is part of the whole thing?” Merlin eyed the light.

“No, this is…” Arthur shut up when the light died. “What the heck?”

“I’d say it’s a power outage.”

“This shouldn’t happen!”

“Didn’t you say the emergency generator will only be delivered next week?”

“Merlin?”

“I’d say you managed to get us locked in.” Merlin found the situation utterly amusing. Arthur’s full-electronic new house had locked them into the panic room and wouldn’t let them out any time soon. 

Arthur reached for the panel on the wall and hit a few buttons blindly.

“Err…are you sure that makes any sense? Without electricity, no signal will be sent out, right?”

“Shut up, Merlin.”

Reaching out, Merlin grabbed Arthur’s arm and pulled him over to the cot where he moved them around until they sat with their backs to the wall. “While we wait, we can at least sit down.”

“How can you be so calm? I’m not sure that the system sent the automatic message to the response team before the power went out. We might be stuck in here for hours!” Arthur started to sound slightly panicked. 

“Then we’ll wait for hours.” Merlin pulled Arthur close. “Calm down, you’re not alone, there are no intruders in the house, this is just a power outage.”

“This shouldn’t happen, though!”

“It’s not their fault that your generator isn’t installed yet.” Merlin could have gone into a lengthy rant about all the electronic gadgets and that this was what happened if one tiny thing failed. He had never been big on electronics, the most advanced appliance he owned was a fancy Italian coffee maker that he had gotten from Arthur as Christmas presents. He never had the heart to tell Arthur that he didn’t even like the taste of that coffee and rather brewed it by hand with an old-fashioned filter. It probably wasn’t the right time to point out that most of what this house could do was utterly redundant and ridiculous.

Arthur breathed a bit more laboured now.

“Come here, Arthur.”

“I am here.”

“Then come closer.”

“I already am really close, Merlin. In case you missed the fact, this room is only meant for one person.”

Merlin rolled his eyes, even though Arthur could not see it. He reached for Arthur’s face and turned it towards him before he leaned in for a kiss. He had wanted to do this forever, never sure how Arthur would react. They were friends for years and somehow they had missed the point to take their friendship to the next level. If Arthur reacted badly now, he could still blame it on the unusual situation. 

“What the fuck are you doing, Merlin?”

Oy, that hadn’t gone well. “Distracting you from your panic attack.” 

“I’m not having a panic attack!”

“Then it worked.” 

They sat in silence, Arthur not moving away, not shaking Merlin’s arm off. “Merlin?”

“Hmmm?”

“I might feel another one approaching?”

Merlin grinned and huffed out a chuckle. “Then I think I should get to work again, shouldn’t I?”

“I think so, too.” Arthur leaned in and tried to find Merlin’s face in the darkness.

Two hours later, when the response team finally managed to get the power working again and opened the door, Merlin and Arthur were still necking.


End file.
